System and method for database access using a history walker

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for a history walker interface to a time-based data structure are disclosed. A time-based data structure may contain information about updates to a set of records that change periodically over time. For example, a set of records that record state transitions of a task item as the task item progresses through its life cycle. An example task item may be represented by a change request or incident report in a help desk software application. The task item begins with an “open” state and may transition through any number of states (e.g., assigned, on-hold, test, customer response requested, etc.) on its way to ultimately being “closed” as completed. A history walker interface may assist application developers when creating applications to indicate how the task item transitioned through its different states throughout its lifecycle.

RELATED CASES

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/923,442,filed Jul. 8, 2020; which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/862,319, filed on Jan. 4, 2018 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,719,485issued on Jul. 21, 2020), which claims priority to and benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/587,020, filed Nov. 16, 2017,entitled “System and Method for Database Access Using a History Walker,”by Bell, et. al, for all applicable purposes, including a right ofpriority, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein, intheir entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to enterprise computingand, in particular, to providing a history walker interface to access adatabase table. A history walker interface provides current field valuesfor a given record and includes information describing changes torecords. Database tables that include information that changes over time(e.g., records tracking changes to work items that are subject to aservice level agreement (SLA)) may be used by applications that benefitfrom this enhanced access method. For example, any application that maybe subject to audit, or an application saving time-based transactionsrecords in a database.

BACKGROUND

Cloud computing relates to the sharing of computing resources that aregenerally accessed via the Internet. In particular, cloud computinginfrastructure allows users to access a shared pool of computingresources, such as servers, storage devices, networks, applications,and/or other computing-based services. By doing so, users, such asindividuals and/or enterprises, are able to access computing resourceson demand that are located at remote locations in order to perform avariety of computing functions that include storing and/or processingcomputing data. For enterprise and other organization users, cloudcomputing provides flexibility in accessing cloud computing resourceswithout accruing up-front costs, such as purchasing network equipmentand investing time in establishing a private network infrastructure.Instead, by utilizing cloud computing resources, users are able redirecttheir resources to focus on core enterprise functions.

In today's communication networks, examples of cloud computing servicesa user may utilize include software as a service (SaaS) and platform asa service (PaaS) technologies. SaaS is a delivery model that providessoftware as a service rather than an end product. Instead of utilizinglocal network or individual software installations, software istypically licensed on a subscription basis, hosted on a remote machine,and accessed as needed. For example, users are generally able to accessa variety of enterprise and/or information technology (IT) relatedsoftware via a web browser. PaaS acts as an extension of SaaS that goesbeyond providing software services by offering customizability andexpandability features to meet a user's needs. For example, PaaS canprovide a cloud-based developmental platform for users to develop,modify, and/or customize applications and/or automate enterpriseoperations without maintaining network infrastructure and/or allocatingcomputing resources normally associated with these functions.

Within the context of cloud computing solutions, data access andpresentation methods have become an important tool for users andapplication developers when creating enterprise applications. As usedherein, a time-based data structure refers to a data structure (e.g.,table or other data store) that has records containing information thatchanges over a time period. That is, information in logically adjacentrecords may represent a transaction history representative of thelife-cycle of something that persists for a time period being maintainedin a database (e.g., incident report, purchase request, travelitinerary). The changes over time may be recorded in a single record ormultiple different records of the time-based data structure. In a simplecase, records are stored logically adjacent to each other and eachrecord (e.g., row) contains information in each field (e.g., column)even if that value has not changed. In other cases, records may containonly changed values and represent a delta (i.e., change record) to theimmediately previous record. In some cases, records may contain a keyvalue (or set of values) that may be used to identify records that arerelated to each other. For example, a data structure may contain a fieldcalled “update” which holds a value reflecting an update number that maybe incremented when any update is made relative to a related set ofrecords in the data structure. The disclosed techniques for interfacingto time-based information in data repositories represent improvements toaddress these and other issues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like referencenumerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a cloud computinginfrastructure 100 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a multi-instancecloud architecture 200 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram 300 illustrating a database having aplurality of tables and including an internal audit control function andrelated audit information tables.

FIG. 4 illustrates operation 400 representing one possible interactionbetween an application and one or more time-based data structures usinga history walker interface according to one or more disclosedembodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a screen shot 500 of a service level agreement (SLA)timeline view containing data prepared by an SLA timeline applicationthat may be configured to use a history walker interface according toone or more disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a screen shot 600 including one possible legend 605explaining elements and icons shown in screen shot 500 according to oneor more disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a zoomed portion 700 of screen shot 500 to illustratea grouping of closely occurring events 710 within a timeline displayaccording to one or more disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a screen shot 800 including a popup dialog 810designed to convey information and allow detailed navigation of closelyoccurring events 810 and provide information about changes to elementsover time (e.g., using history walker interface) within a timelinedisplay according to one or more disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a high-level block diagram 900 of a processing device(computing system) that may be used to implement one or more disclosedembodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments disclosed herein. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiments may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, structureand devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuringthe disclosed embodiments. Moreover, the language used in thisdisclosure has been principally selected for readability andinstructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate orcircumscribe the inventive subject matter, resorting to the claims beingnecessary to determine such inventive subject matter. Reference in thespecification to “one embodiment” or to “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiments is included in at least one embodiment.

The terms “a,” “an,” and “the” are not intended to refer to a singularentity unless explicitly so defined, but include the general class ofwhich a specific example may be used for illustration. The use of theterms “a” or “an” may therefore mean any number that is at least one,including “one,” “one or more,” “at least one,” and “one or more thanone.” The term “or” means any of the alternatives and any combination ofthe alternatives, including all of the alternatives, unless thealternatives are explicitly indicated as mutually exclusive. The phrase“at least one of” when combined with a list of items, means a singleitem from the list or any combination of items in the list. The phrasedoes not require all of the listed items unless explicitly so defined.

The term “computing system” is generally taken to refer to at least oneelectronic computing device that includes, but is not limited to, asingle computer, virtual machine, virtual container, host, server,laptop, and/or mobile device or to a plurality of electronic computingdevices working together to perform the function described as beingperformed on or by the computing system.

As used herein, the term “medium” refers to one or more non-transitoryphysical media that together store the contents described as beingstored thereon. Embodiments may include non-volatile secondary storage,read-only memory (ROM), and/or random-access memory (RAM).

As used herein, the terms “application” and “function” refer to one ormore computing modules, programs, processes, workloads, threads and/or aset of computing instructions executed by a computing system. Exampleembodiments of applications and functions include software modules,software objects, software instances and/or other types of executablecode.

As disclosed herein, a history walker interface to a time-based datastructure refers to an interface that retrieves records from one or moretables (or other data storage structures) and includes informationdescribing how or why one or more fields have changed values. Thedisclosed history walker interface allows access to an existing logicalrecord of a time-based data structure and permits “walking” forward andbackward through its historical updates while identifying which fieldshave changed. The history walker interface may: control (and honor)record and field level security when walking through historical data;control if the history or audit tables are used to retrieve historicalupdates to the record; turn off default behavior that identifies whichfields have changed for an update and provide enhanced behavior; walk toa specific update number; walk forward to the next chronological update;and walk backward to the previous chronological update. In someembodiments, the history walker interface may be provided as anapplication program interface (API). In an example application,explained further below, the history walker API may be used for advancedservice level agreement (SLA) “administrator level functions” that aresupported by an SLA application (e.g., an SLA timeline). In oneembodiment, the history walker will provide a way to walk throughinformation retrieved from a database using an existing glide record(explained below). If a record has a particular update number, thehistory walker API may be configured to walk to a previous update numberwhile preserving the changes in each glide element and have an abilityto test each element to determine which elements have changed. SLAadministrator functions can include a “Reset” condition that allowscustomers to generate a new task SLA when a field changes (e.g.,assignment group or a date/time field). In this example Reset condition,a new task SLA may be generated because the fields that have changed maycause a new clock timer to be initiated and not accrue the time spentprior to that change against the new task SLA. For example, if apriority one incident was opened against the wrong assignment group andit took 10 minutes to move the incident to the correct group, theincorrect group is not “penalized” the 10 minute delay and starts withzero elapsed time.

Databases may store information for their associated tables in a numberof ways. In general, the physical storage of updates may be a designconsideration for performance of the overall database and may depend onthe type of data being stored in the database. In some cases, a datastructure may include values for every element (e.g., column) in everyrecord (e.g., row). In other implementations, a data structure may onlystore changed values in subsequent records as a delta against theprevious record. Delta storage may be useful if there are many elementsin each record and very few of the elements are expected to change forany given update. Information may be stored in a single table or inmultiple tables that reference each other through pointers or keyvalues. Additionally, some databases have internally implemented auditmechanisms to track changes to field values and the addition (orremoval) of records. Audit mechanisms are used to determine who, what,and possibly why data fields within the database have changed. Detailsof database implementation (at the physical storage level) are beyondthe scope of this disclosure and are not discussed further. In thisdisclosure, the database will be primarily considered at a higher leveland return a logical view of a record and its elements (e.g., a gliderecord) regardless of how the data is actually stored at the physicallevel. The disclosed history walker interface may be designed tointerface with any number of database implementations. Furtherinformation about a history walker interface to a database and an SLAtimeline application configured to use a history walker interface isdiscussed below with reference to FIGS. 3-8.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a cloud computinginfrastructure 100 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate. Cloud computing infrastructure 100 comprises a customer network102, network 108, and a cloud resources platform/network 110. In oneembodiment, the customer network 102 may be a local private network,such as local area network (LAN) that includes a variety of networkdevices that include, but are not limited to switches, servers, androuters. Each of these networks can contain wired or wirelessprogrammable devices and operate using any number of network protocols(e.g., TCP/IP) and connection technologies (e.g., WiFi® networks,Bluetooth®). Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth Special Interest Group.In another embodiment, customer network 102 represents an enterprisenetwork that could include or be communicatively coupled to one or morelocal area networks (LANs), virtual networks, data centers, and/or otherremote networks (e.g., 108, 112). As shown in FIG. 1, customer network102 may be connected to one or more client devices 104A-E and allow theclient devices to communicate with each other and/or with cloudresources platform/network 110. Client devices 104A-E may be computingsystems such as desktop computer 104B, tablet computer 104C, mobilephone 104D, laptop computer (shown as wireless) 104E, and/or other typesof computing systems generically shown as client device 104A. Cloudcomputing infrastructure 100 may also include other types of devicesgenerally referred to as Internet of Things (IoT) (e.g., edge IOT device105) that may be configured to send and receive information via anetwork to access cloud computing services or interact with a remote webbrowser application (e.g., to receive configuration information). FIG. 1also illustrates that customer network 102 may be connected to a localcompute resource 106 that may include a server, access point, router, orother device configured to provide for local computational resourcesand/or to facilitate communication amongst networks and devices. Forexample, local compute resource 106 may be one or more physical localhardware devices configured to communicate with wireless network devicesand/or facilitate communication of data between customer network 102 andother networks such as network 108 and cloud resources platform/network110. Local compute resource 106 may also facilitate communicationbetween other external applications, data sources, and services, andcustomer network 102. FIG. 1 also illustrates that customer network 102may be connected to a computer configured to execute a management,instrumentation, and discovery (MID) server 107. For example, MID server107 may be a Java application that runs as a Windows service or UNIXdaemon. MID server 107 may be configured to assist functions such as,but not necessarily limited to, discovery, orchestration, servicemapping, service analytics, and event management. MID server 107 may beconfigured to perform tasks for a cloud-based instance while neverinitiating communication directly to the cloud-instance by utilizing awork queue architecture. This configuration may assist in addressingsecurity concerns by eliminating that path of direct communicationinitiation.

Cloud computing infrastructure 100 also includes cellular network 103for use with mobile communication devices. Mobile cellular networkssupport mobile phones and many other types of mobile devices such aslaptops etc. Mobile devices in cloud computing infrastructure 100 areillustrated as mobile phone 104D, laptop 104E, and tablet 104C. A mobiledevice such as mobile phone 104D may interact with one or more mobileprovider networks as the mobile device moves, typically interacting witha plurality of mobile network towers 120, 130, and 140 for connecting tothe cellular network 103. Although referred to as a cellular network inFIG. 1, a mobile device may interact with towers of more than oneprovider network, as well as with multiple non-cellular devices, such aswireless access points and routers (e.g., local compute resource 106).In addition, the mobile devices may interact with other mobile devicesor with non-mobile devices such as desktop computer 104B and varioustypes of client devices 104A for desired services. Although notspecifically illustrated in FIG. 1, customer network 102 may alsoinclude a dedicated network device (e.g., gateway or router) or acombination of network devices that implement a customer firewall orintrusion protection system.

FIG. 1 illustrates that customer network 102 is coupled to a network108. Network 108 may include one or more computing networks availabletoday, such as other LANs, wide area networks (WANs), the Internet,and/or other remote networks, in order to transfer data between clientdevices 104A-E and cloud resources platform/network 110. Each of thecomputing networks within network 108 may contain wired and/or wirelessprogrammable devices that operate in the electrical and/or opticaldomain. For example, network 108 may include wireless networks, such ascellular networks in addition to cellular network 103. Wireless networksmay utilize a variety of protocols and communication techniques (e.g.,Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) based cellular network)wireless fidelity Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication(NFC), and/or other suitable radio-based networks as would beappreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art upon viewing thisdisclosure. Network 108 may also employ any number of networkcommunication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) andInternet Protocol (IP). Although not explicitly shown in FIG. 1, network108 may include a variety of network devices, such as servers, routers,network switches, and/or other network hardware devices configured totransport data over networks.

In FIG. 1, cloud resources platform/network 110 is illustrated as aremote network (e.g., a cloud network) that is able to communicate withclient devices 104A-E via customer network 102 and network 108. Thecloud resources platform/network 110 acts as a platform that providesadditional computing resources to the client devices 104A-E and/orcustomer network 102. For example, by utilizing the cloud resourcesplatform/network 110, users of client devices 104A-E may be able tobuild and execute applications, such as automated processes for variousenterprise, IT, and/or other organization-related functions. In oneembodiment, the cloud resources platform/network 110 includes one ormore data centers 112, where each data center 112 could correspond to adifferent geographic location. Within a particular data center 112 acloud service provider may include a plurality of server instances 114.Each server instance 114 may be implemented on a physical computingsystem, such as a single electronic computing device (e.g., a singlephysical hardware server) or could be in the form a multi-computingdevice (e.g., multiple physical hardware servers). Examples of serverinstances 114 include, but are not limited to, a web server instance(e.g., a unitary Apache installation), an application server instance(e.g., unitary Java Virtual Machine), and/or a database server instance(e.g., a unitary MySQL catalog).

To utilize computing resources within cloud resources platform/network110, network operators may choose to configure data centers 112 using avariety of computing infrastructures. In one embodiment, one or more ofdata centers 112 are configured using a multi-tenant cloud architecturesuch that a single server instance 114, which can also be referred to asan application instance, handles requests and serves more than onecustomer. In some cases, data centers with multi-tenant cloudarchitecture commingle and store data from multiple customers, wheremultiple customer instances are assigned to a single server instance114. In a multi-tenant cloud architecture, the single server instance114 distinguishes between and segregates data and other information ofthe various customers. For example, a multi-tenant cloud architecturecould assign a particular identifier for each customer in order toidentify and segregate the data from each customer. In a multitenancyenvironment, multiple customers share the same application, running onthe same operating system, on the same hardware, with the samedata-storage mechanism. The distinction between the customers isachieved during application design, thus customers do not share or seeeach other's data. This is different than virtualization wherecomponents are transformed, enabling each customer application to appearto run on a separate virtual machine. Generally, implementing amulti-tenant cloud architecture may have a production limitation, suchas the failure of a single server instance 114 causing outages for allcustomers allocated to the single server instance 114.

In another embodiment, one or more of the data centers 112 areconfigured using a multi-instance cloud architecture to provide everycustomer its own unique customer instance. For example, a multi-instancecloud architecture could provide each customer instance with its owndedicated application server and dedicated database server. In otherexamples, the multi-instance cloud architecture could deploy a singleserver instance 114 and/or other combinations of server instances 114,such as one or more dedicated web server instances, one or morededicated application server instances, and one or more database serverinstances, for each customer instance. In a multi-instance cloudarchitecture, multiple customer instances could be installed on a singlephysical hardware server where each customer instance is allocatedcertain portions of the physical server resources, such as computingmemory, storage, and processing power. By doing so, each customerinstance has its own unique software stack that provides the benefit ofdata isolation, relatively less downtime for customers to access thecloud resources platform/network 110, and customer-driven upgradeschedules. An example of implementing a customer instance within amulti-instance cloud architecture will be discussed in more detail belowwhen describing FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a multi-instancecloud architecture 200 where embodiments of the present disclosure mayoperate. FIG. 2 illustrates that the multi-instance cloud architecture200 includes a customer network 202 that connects to two data centers206A and 2068 via network 204. Customer network 202 and network 204 maybe substantially similar to customer network 102 and network 108 asdescribed in FIG. 1, respectively. Data centers 206A and 206B cancorrespond to FIG. 1's data centers 112 located within cloud resourcesplatform/network 110. Using FIG. 2 as an example, a customer instance208 is composed of four dedicated application server instances 210A-210Dand two dedicated database server instances 212A and 212B. Statedanother way, the application server instances 210A-210D and databaseserver instances 212A and 212B are not shared with other customerinstances 208. Other embodiments of the multi-instance cloudarchitecture 200 could include other types of dedicated serverinstances, such as a web server instance. For example, the customerinstance 208 could include the four dedicated application serverinstances 210A-210D, two dedicated database server instances 212A and212B, and four dedicated web server instances (not shown in FIG. 2).

To facilitate higher availability of the customer instance 208,application on server instances 210A-210D and database server instances212A and 212B are shown to be allocated to two different data centers206A and 206B, where one of data centers 206A and 206B may act as abackup data center. In reference to FIG. 2, data center 206A acts as aprimary data center that includes a primary pair of application serverinstances 210A and 210B and primary database server instance 212A forcustomer instance 208, and data center 206B acts as a secondary datacenter to back up primary data center 206A for a customer instance 208.To back up primary data center 206A for customer instance 208, secondarydata center 2068 includes a secondary pair of application serverinstances 210C and 210D and a secondary database server instance 212B.Primary database server instance 212A is able to replicate data tosecondary database server instance 212B. As shown in FIG. 2, primarydatabase server instance 212A replicates data to secondary databaseserver instance 212B using a replication operation such as, for example,a. Master-Master MySQL Binlog replication operation. The replication ofdata. between data centers could be implemented in real time or byimplementing full backup weekly and daily incremental backups in bothdata centers 206A and 2068. Having both a primary data center 206A andsecondary data center 2068 allows data traffic that typically travels tothe primary data center 206A for the customer instance 208 to bediverted to the second data center 206B during a failure and/ormaintenance scenario. Using FIG. 2 as an example, if application serverinstances 210A and 2108 and/or primary data server instance 212A failsand/or is under maintenance, data traffic for customer instances 208 canbe diverted to secondary application server instances 210C and 210D andsecondary database server instance 212B for processing.

Although FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate specific embodiments of a cloudcomputing system 100 and a multi-instance cloud architecture 200,respectively, the disclosure is not limited to the specific embodimentsillustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. For instance, although FIG. 1 illustratesthat cloud resources platform/network 110 is implemented using datacenters, other embodiments of the of the cloud resourcesplatform/network 110 are not limited to data centers and can utilizeother types of remote network infrastructures. Moreover, otherembodiments of the present disclosure may combine one or more differentserver instances into a single server instance. Using FIG. 2 as anexample, application server instances 210A-210D and database serverinstances 212A-212B can be combined into a single server instance. Theuse and discussion of FIGS. 1 and 2 are only examples to facilitate easeof description and explanation.

Referring now to FIG. 3, block diagram 300 represents a possibleinteraction flow for a history walker interface to database 301according to one or more disclosed embodiments. Block diagram 300includes tables 1-N (305, 310, and 315), audit function 325, and auditinformation tables 320 that, in this example, are internal to database301. History walker interface 330 is external to database 301 and hasread-only access to information tables within database 301. In somecases, a history walker interface may be internal to a database (e.g.,provided by native database access controls) and may have read/writeaccess, however, for this example embodiment read-only access isadequate. Tables 1, 2 . . . N (305, 310, and 315) represent data tablesand may store information at a physical level using any of the methodsdescribed above (e.g., delta, full, etc.). Audit function 325 monitorsupdates to table 1 as illustrated by line 306, updates to table 2 asillustrated by line 311, and updates to table N as illustrated by line316. Audit function 325 stores (shown by line 326) its audit informationin one or more audit tables 320. Access by audit function 325 to audittables 320 may be write-only, or read-write, depending on implementationand security requirements. In general, audit tables within a database(such as audit tables 320) have strict access controls because theystore sensitive information that should not be altered by functionsother than an official audit function. In this example, history walkerinterface 330 is allowed read-only access to tables 1-N as shown bylines 331, 332, and 333. Additionally, history walker interface 330 isconfigured with read-only access (line 335) to audit information tables320. In some embodiments, history walker interface 330 will only accessaudit information tables 320 when instructed to utilize that informationand may attempt to first determine all element values and requiredchange information by interrogating only standard information tables(e.g., tables 1-N, 305, 310, and 315). In other embodiments, historywalker interface 330 will access some form of audit data when walking arecord to an update. History walker interface 330 may access audit datain one or both of the following ways. First, historical data for arecord may be accessed by going directly to the Audit (“sys_audit”)table. This table contains details of modifications to any field on anyrecord type that has auditing enabled. As such, this may be a very largetable which is accessed frequently by an instance to record changes andin some cases read data from it. Second, an interface (e.g., a historyset API) may be used to access audit data. This interface may beconfigured to interrogate its own history tables first for thehistorical data for a record (e.g., may act like a cache). If the datais available on these history tables then it will be read from there. Ifthe data is unavailable, then the “sys_audit” table will be queried andthe data extracted to populate the history tables of the interface so itis available the next time that data is needed. Obviously, this historyset API may provide performance improvements over accessing the“sys_audit” table and may be beneficial in some embodiments. As in acache, data may be rotated in an out of the history set tables on aregular basis and may be tuned as needed for performance.

Audit functions within database 301 may be implemented in differentways. In some cases, audit controls are integrated into “write”functions such that any data stored (e.g., via “update” function) in atable is concurrently tracked in the audit tables (e.g., auditinformation tables 320) of the database. In other cases, changes to datamay be detected by monitors to implement audit controls. In most cases,audit controls of a database are intended to capture comprehensiveinformation regarding database activities and may be implemented usingdifferent techniques.

As mentioned above, some embodiments of a history walker interface to adatabase may be implemented using a “glide record.” As used herein, aglide record provides a logical view into a specific record ofinformation stored in one or more tables of a database. In someembodiments, the glide record may be configured to include both fieldvalues and information describing how or why any field with a changedvalue (relative to the chronologically previous record) was changed. Forexample, if a view into Update-10 for an incident report is requested ina glide record, that glide record will contain values of all fieldvalues relevant to Update-10, AND information describing how or why anyfield values differ from that generated in response to Update-9. In thisexample, update numbers are expected to update sequentially so Update-10would be the immediately subsequent update to Update-9.

The disclosed history walker interface to information in a database mayassist application developers with implementing a variety ofapplications. For example, applications that deal with time-based datastructures, discussed above, may benefit. One example application is anSLA application that presents an SLA timeline for a task SLA itemsubject to an SLA (See FIG. 5). An SLA may represent an agreementbetween a service provider and a customer of that service to addressissues within a specific time frame. An SLA may require that issues setto a high priority are corrected in a short time period (e.g., 1 hourfor priority 1 incident reports). To address incident reports, manyenterprises utilize help desk software. In general, help desk softwarecollects information from users experiencing an issue, assigns the issue(task item associated with incident report) to a working team, andtracks the issue until resolution. During its lifecycle, informationwith a particular incident will change over time. An SLA timelineapplication presents a visual depiction of the lifecycle for one or moreincidents and provides indications of conformance or non-conformancewith an associated SLA. Further details of SLAs and applications workingwith SLAs are described in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.62/501,643, entitled “Timeline Zoom and Service Level AgreementValidation,” by Jason Occhialini, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety for all purposes.

The disclosed history walker interface may assist the example SLAtimeline application by allowing a request for a particular status(e.g., by update number) and creating a view of that update inconjunction with changes in that update relative to the immediatelypreceding update. For example, a request for Update-5 will return allfield values for Update-5 and information describing any values thathave changed from Update-4. If, in this example, a priority fieldchanged from Update-4 to Update-5, the requested glide record may beuseful to describe that transition on a corresponding SLA timeline view.The augmented information in a history walker glide record may reduceeither the programming overhead or the run-time performance requirements(or both) for this example SLA timeline application. In another exampleuse, the history walker interface may be used to assist in“recalculating” an SLA. Recalculating may be required for technical orcorporate reasons. In one case, missed update processing may have beencaused by some sort of system error such as a lock failure or racecondition between two tasks. In this case, a “repair” function may beused to properly adjust for the missed update processing. A repairfunction may also be considered an SLA “administrator function” alongwith the “reset” condition discussed above. In general, the repairfunction corrects for calculation issues. In another example, SLAdefinitions (and contractual requirements) may be changed after someincidents, or other task items, are already in progress (or havecompleted). One such case may be a service level contract adjustmentfrom one year to the next where the contract is not made active prior tothe start of the year for which the agreement applies (e.g., signed inFebruary and SLAs are applicable for the calendar year). In this case,once new SLA definitions have become active for any new task SLA items,they may have to be retroactively applied to historical task SLA items.This may be required to determine an overall compliance for the entirecontract period (e.g., January to December). An application configuredto accurately apply SLAs retroactively may benefit from the disclosedhistory walker interface by using the history walker interface to stepthrough the completed (and in-progress) task SLA items for determiningcompliance and calculating any additionally required metrics.

Referring now to FIG. 4, operation 400 illustrates one possibleinteraction between an application and one or more time-based datastructures using a history walker interface according to one or moredisclosed embodiments. Beginning at block 410, one or more time-baseddata structures are identified by an application program. For example,an application program may identify one or more time-based datastructures for which historical change information may be desired. Atblock 420, an indication of both a time-based data structure and anupdate number are received for processing (e.g., at a history walkerinterface from an application program). Block 430 indicates that a gliderecord (e.g., view into a data structure) may be prepared based on theupdate number as, for example, identified by an application program.Block 440 indicates that, in this embodiment, at least three methods to“reposition a view” may be supported by the history walker interface. A“walk to” method, a “walk forward” method, and a “walk backward” method.The walk to method walks to the view (e.g., glide record) to thespecified update number. This can be higher or lower than whatever thecurrent walked to update. The walk forward method walks one updatenumber forward from the current walked to record. The walk backwardmethod walks one update number backward from the current walked torecord. While moving forward or backward, the glide record may bepopulated with information to support information identifying how/whyinformation has changed between updates. This information may bemaintained in the glide record and made available to the applicationprogram as requested. Once the view (e.g. glide record) is positioned asdesired, a call to a “get walked record” may be used to retrieveinformation from that record. Block 450 indicates that a flag (e.g.,“get with changes” flag) may be set to true to indicate that the getwalked record method (block 460) should retrieve both the informationfrom the record and the changes information made available by thehistory walker interface. In operation, this embodiment, simplypositions the glide record using the described positioning methods andthen retrieves the data either with or without “changes” informationbased on how the get with changes flag is set. Using these methods theapplication program may move forward and backward across updates to thetime-based data structure and obtain a picture of how elements of theupdate records have been altered over time. For example, an SLA recordmay be stepped through to determine compliance (or gather otherinformation) of a task SLA item with an associated SLA definition. Inthis case, the changes information may be obtained, at least in part, byaccessing audit information tables (e.g., 320 of FIG. 3). As explainedabove, some databases maintain audit table information automatically totrack changes to data stored therein. The disclosed history walkerinterface may be configured to determine changes information bycomparing adjacent records of a time-based data structure, usinginternally cached audit information, querying audit information tables,or a combination thereof. Block 470 illustrates that the applicationprogram may obtain and use information from a glide record, includingthe changes information prepared by the history walker interface, asneeded for application purposes. One example SLA timeline applicationthat may benefit from the disclosed history walker interface isdiscussed next with reference to FIGS. 5-8.

Referring now to FIGS. 5-7, FIG. 5 illustrates a screen shot 500 formultiple task SLAs, each associated with an SLA definition, andproviding a visualization with indications of conformance to theassociated SLA, the visualization further including indications of statechanges with respect to the SLA, according to one or more disclosedembodiments. In general, a customer creates SLA definitions which arefor a specific task type (e.g., incident). Each SLA definition has astart condition to determine when this SLA definition should betriggered against the specified task types (e.g., Priority is 1). Eachtime a task is created or updated the SLA definitions defined for theassociated task type may be evaluated to determine if the startcondition matches. When a start condition matches a new task SLA recordmay be created based on the SLA definition and linked to the task (e.g.,incident) that triggered it.

Returning to FIG. 5, element 505 represents a task SLA item. Element 510represents an icon indicating a state change or other discrete eventassociated with the task SLA item. Element 515 represents a color codedsegment of the horizontal timeline. Color coding may be used torepresent an elapsed time and compliance with SLA requirements. Forexample, a first color (e.g., green as indicated by element 514) may beused to represent that the amount of time used to resolve the problemwas less than 50% of the allowable time, a second color (e.g., yellow)may be used to represent that the amount of time used was between 50%and 75%, a third color (e.g., orange) may be used to represent theamount of time used was between 75% and 100%, and a fourth color (e.g.,red as indicated by element 520) may be used to represent that the SLAwas out of compliance and more than 100% of the allowable time hadelapsed. Additionally, a modifier as illustrated by element 525 may bepresented by darkening a lower half of the timeline bar to indicateareas related to a scheduling aspect of the SLA. For example, some SLAsmay only be active during regular work hours such that they areconsidered “out of schedule” during non-working hours, while others maybe “in-schedule” twenty four hours a day every day. Each of the statetransitions of a task SLA item as shown in the SLA timeline representinformation that may be obtained using a history walker interface asdisclosed herein. For example, each of the state transitions of a taskSLA item (e.g., changes through lifecycle) may be stored as sequentialupdates to a time-based data structure containing information about thetask SLA item associated with the SLA definition. An applicationconfigured to work with a history walker interface may requestinformation for a particular update related to color coded section 515.Next, the history walker may be instructed to walk backward through oneor more updates to gather information for one or more updates inpreceding area 514. Alternatively, or in addition, the history walkermay be instructed to walk forward through one or more updates and gatherinformation represented by area 520 which is subsequent in time to area515. Importantly, a history walker interface may be useful to anapplication configured to generate the timeline view for each task SLAitem 505 as shown in screenshot 500. That is, the history walkerinterface could start at a first update and walk forward providing theapplication all required information to construct the timeline view ofscreen shot 500. FIG. 6 illustrates a screen shot 600 including onepossible legend 605 explaining elements and icons shown in screen shot500 according to one or more disclosed embodiments. FIG. 7 illustrates azoomed portion 700 of screen shot 500 to illustrate a grouping ofclosely occurring events 710 for task SLA-2 element 705 within atimeline display according to one or more disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a screen shot 800 including a popup dialog 810designed to convey information and allow detailed navigation of closelyoccurring events 710 within a timeline display according to one or moredisclosed embodiments. Selection buttons 815 and 816 may be used to stepbackward (815) or forward (816). To step forward/backward, a historywalker interface could be used to step through SLA conditions (e.g.,updates) causing a state change and provide information to inform a useras to why or how the conditions caused the state change. This method ofpresentation may be useful to obtain information about closely occurringevents. Events that are caused by automated systems may occur in veryclose time proximity to one another and thus may be more easily viewedusing the information provided in popup dialog 810.

FIG. 9 illustrates a high-level block diagram 900 of a processing device(computing system) that may be used to implement one or more disclosedembodiments (e.g., service provider cloud infrastructure 110, clientdevices 104A-104E, server instances 114, data centers 206A-206B, etc.).For example, computing device 900, illustrated in FIG. 9, couldrepresent a client device or a physical server device and could includeeither hardware or virtual processor(s) depending on the level ofabstraction of the computing device. In some instances (withoutabstraction) computing device 900 and its elements as shown in FIG. 9each relate to physical hardware and in some instances one, more, or allof the elements could be implemented using emulators or virtual machinesas levels of abstraction. In any case, no matter how many levels ofabstraction away from the physical hardware, computing device 900 at itslowest level may be implemented on physical hardware. As also shown inFIG. 9, computing device 900 may include one or more input devices 930,such as a keyboard, mouse, touchpad, or sensor readout (e.g., biometricscanner) and one or more output devices 915, such as displays, speakersfor audio, or printers. Some devices may be configured as input/outputdevices also (e.g., a network interface or touchscreen display).Computing device 900 may also include communications interfaces 925,such as a network communication unit that could include a wiredcommunication component and/or a wireless communications component,which may be communicatively coupled to processor 905. The networkcommunication unit may utilize any of a variety of proprietary orstandardized network protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, to name a fewof many protocols, to effect communications between devices. Networkcommunication units may also comprise one or more transceivers thatutilize the Ethernet, power line communication (PLC), Wi-Fi, cellular,and/or other communication methods.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, processing device 900 includes a processingelement, such as processor 905, that contains one or more hardwareprocessors, where each hardware processor may have a single or multipleprocessor cores. In one embodiment, the processor 905 may include atleast one shared cache that stores data (e.g., computing instructions)that are utilized by one or more other components of processor 905. Forexample, the shared cache may be a locally cached data stored in amemory for faster access by components of the processing elements thatmake up processor 905. In one or more embodiments, the shared cache mayinclude one or more mid-level caches, such as level 2 (L2), level 3(L3), level 4 (L4), or other levels of cache, a last level cache (LLC),or combinations thereof. Examples of processors include, but are notlimited to a central processing unit (CPU) microprocessor. Although notillustrated in FIG. 9, the processing elements that make up processor905 may also include one or more other types of hardware processingcomponents, such as graphics processing units (GPUs), applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays(FPGAs), and/or digital signal processors (DSPs).

FIG. 9 illustrates that memory 910 may be operatively andcommunicatively coupled to processor 905. Memory 910 may be anon-transitory medium configured to store various types of data. Forexample, memory 910 may include one or more storage devices 920 thatcomprise a non-volatile storage device and/or volatile memory. Volatilememory, such as random access memory (RAM), can be any suitablenon-permanent storage device. The non-volatile storage devices 920 caninclude one or more disk drives, optical drives, solid-state drives(SSDs), tap drives, flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), and/or anyother type memory designed to maintain data for a duration time after apower loss or shut down operation. In certain instances, thenon-volatile storage devices 920 may be used to store overflow data ifallocated RAM is not large enough to hold all working data. Thenon-volatile storage devices 920 may also be used to store programs thatare loaded into the RAM when such programs are selected for execution.

Persons of ordinary skill in the art are aware that software programsmay be developed, encoded, and compiled in a variety of computinglanguages for a variety of software platforms and/or operating systemsand subsequently loaded and executed by processor 905. In oneembodiment, the compiling process of the software program may transformprogram code written in a programming language to another computerlanguage such that the processor 905 is able to execute the programmingcode. For example, the compiling process of the software program maygenerate an executable program that provides encoded instructions (e.g.,machine code instructions) for processor 905 to accomplish specific,non-generic, particular computing functions.

After the compiling process, the encoded instructions may then be loadedas computer executable instructions or process steps to processor 905from storage 920, from memory 910, and/or embedded within processor 905(e.g., via a cache or on-board ROM). Processor 905 may be configured toexecute the stored instructions or process steps in order to performinstructions or process steps to transform the computing device into anon-generic, particular, specially programmed machine or apparatus.Stored data, e.g., data stored by a storage device 920, may be accessedby processor 905 during the execution of computer executableinstructions or process steps to instruct one or more components withinthe computing device 900.

A user interface (e.g., output devices 915 and input devices 930) caninclude a display, positional input device (such as a mouse, touchpad,touchscreen, or the like), keyboard, or other forms of user input andoutput devices. The user interface components may be communicativelycoupled to processor 905. When the output device is or includes adisplay, the display can be implemented in various ways, including by aliquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode-ray tube (CRT) or lightemitting diode (LED) display, such as an OLED display. Persons ofordinary skill in the art are aware that the computing device 900 maycomprise other components well known in the art, such as sensors, powerssources, and/or analog-to-digital converters, not explicitly shown inFIG. 9.

At least one embodiment is disclosed and variations, combinations,and/or modifications of the embodiment(s) and/or features of theembodiment(s) made by a person having ordinary skill in the art arewithin the scope of the disclosure. Alternative embodiments that resultfrom combining, integrating, and/or omitting features of theembodiment(s) are also within the scope of the disclosure. Wherenumerical ranges or limitations are expressly stated, such expressranges or limitations may be understood to include iterative ranges orlimitations of like magnitude falling within the expressly stated rangesor limitations (e.g., from about 1 to about 10 includes 2, 3, 4, etc.;greater than 0.10 includes 0.11, 0.12, 0.13, etc.). The use of the term“about” means ±10% of the subsequent number, unless otherwise stated.

Use of the term “optionally” with respect to any element of a claimmeans that the element is required, or alternatively, the element is notrequired, both alternatives being within the scope of the claim. Use ofbroader terms such as comprises, includes, and having may be understoodto provide support for narrower terms such as consisting of, consistingessentially of, and comprised substantially of. Accordingly, the scopeof protection is not limited by the description set out above but isdefined by the claims that follow, that scope including all equivalentsof the subject matter of the claims. Each and every claim isincorporated as further disclosure into the specification and the claimsare embodiment(s) of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative and not restrictive. For example, the above-describedembodiments may be used in combination with each other. Many otherembodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewingthe above description. The scope of the invention therefore should bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It should benoted that the discussion of any reference is not an admission that itis prior art to the present invention, especially any reference that mayhave a publication date after the priority date of this application.

The subject matter of this disclosure may be applicable to numerous usecases that have not been explicitly discussed here but are contemplatedby this disclosure. For example, the provisional applications filed bythe same applicant on May 4, 2017 and May 5, 2017 entitled “ServicePlatform and use thereof” have further examples. The U.S. Provisionalapplications given filing Ser. Nos. 62/501,646; 62/501,657; 62/502,258;62/502,308; and 62/502,244 are hereby incorporated by reference.

1. A system, comprising: a hardware processor; and a non-transitorymemory storing instructions that, when executed by the hardwareprocessor, cause the hardware processor to perform actions comprising:receiving update information via a history walker interface, wherein theupdate information is related to an update to an item associated with atime-based data structure, and wherein the update information isindicative of one or more additional updates that precede the update, orproceed the update, or both; and providing a representation of agraphical user interface (GUI) to a client device, wherein therepresentation of the GUI is configured to display the update and theone or more additional updates positioned along a timeline for the item.2. The system of claim 1, wherein the update information comprises oneor more field value changes between the update and the one or moreadditional updates.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the history walkerinterface comprises an application programming interface (API)configured to obtain the update information.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the item comprises an incident report associated with anenterprise or a change request associated with the enterprise.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the representation of the GUI indicateswhether each update of the update and the one or more additional updatesare a task update or a task update with a state change.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the time-based data structure comprises a transactionhistory representative of a life-cycle of the item.
 7. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the item comprises one or more tasks associated withone or more service level agreements (SLAs), and wherein therepresentation of the GUI indicates compliance with the one or moreSLAs.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein each task of the one or moretasks comprises one or more color-coded segments representing an elapsedtimeline and a compliance status with the one or more SLAs.
 9. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the representation of the GUI indicates aschedule associated with at least one of the one or more SLAs.
 10. Amethod, comprising: receiving update information from an applicationprogramming interface (API), wherein the update information is relatedto an update to an item associated with a time-based data structure, andwherein the update information is indicative of one or more additionalupdates that precede the update, or proceed the update, or both; andproviding a representation of a graphical user interface (GUI) to aclient device, wherein the representation of the GUI is configured todisplay the update and the one or more additional updates positionedalong a timeline for the item.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein theupdate information comprises one or more field value changes between theupdate and the one or more additional updates.
 12. The method of claim10, wherein the representation of the GUI enables navigation between theupdate and the one or more additional updates.
 13. The method of claim10, wherein the representation of the GUI indicates whether each updateof the update and the one or more additional updates are a task updateor a task update with a state change.
 14. The method of claim 10,wherein the time-based data structure comprises a transaction historyrepresentative of a life-cycle of the item.
 15. The method of claim 10,wherein the representation of the GUI indicates whether the itemcomprises an incident report associated with an enterprise or a changerequest associated with the enterprise.
 16. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium comprising computer readable instructions, thatwhen executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: receiving updateinformation from an application programming interface (API), wherein theupdate information is related to an update to an item associated with atime-based data structure, and wherein the update information isindicative of one or more additional updates that precede the update, orproceed the update, or both; and providing a representation of agraphical user interface (GUI) to a client device, wherein therepresentation of the GUI is configured to display the update and theone or more additional updates positioned along a timeline for the item.17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein therepresentation of the GUI enables navigation between the update and theone or more additional updates.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 16, wherein the item comprises one or more tasksassociated with one or more service level agreements (SLAs), and whereinthe representation of the GUI indicates compliance with the one or moreSLAs.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18,wherein each task of the one or more tasks comprises one or morecolor-coded segments representing an elapsed timeline and a compliancestatus with the one or more SLAs.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the representation of theGUI indicates a schedule associated with at least one of the one or moreSLAs.